Coin counting and dispensing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A coin dispensing apparatus is disclosed having a hopper for storing coins, a rotary disc rotatably mounted within said hopper at an angle to the horizontal, a plurality of delivery pins spaced in the peripheral direction on said rotary disc, a delivery knife for guiding coins at the upper delivery portion to a discharge chute and a counter at the upper delivery portion. The rotary disc is rotatably supported on a supporting plate by means of a plurality of balls interposed between the bottom surface of the rotary disc and the upper surface of the supporting plate and the rotary disc is urged toward the supporting plate so as to obtain effective engagement therebetween through the balls. The counter has a removable and replaceable counter roller rotatably mounted on a rocker arm having an actuating arm adapted for moving into a slot between a pair of sensor coils of an electromagnetic sensor such as a proximity switch or a slot switch. The counter roller is normally positioned in the delivery passage opposite the delivery knife and urged towards the latter by means of spring so that when a coin is delivered to the delivery passage along the delivery knife, the rocker arm is pivoted by the coin so as to move the actuating arm into the slot of the sensor to make switching action. The counter roller is removable and replaceable with different diameter counter rollers to accommodate varying denominations of coins.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing coins ortokens, and more particularly to a hopper type coin dispensing apparatusincluding a hopper for storing coins or tokens in bulk and a rotary discfor delivering the coins from the hopper one at a time and in specificquantities.

2. Description of the Prior Art

U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,544 is illustrative of the prior art. There isdisclosed a coin dispensing apparatus for various coin denominationsincluding a hopper for storing coins, a rotary disc rotatably disposedin the hopper at an angle to the horizontal, a removably secured centraldisc on the rotary disc and a delivery knife. The central disc isremovable and replaceable with different diameter central discs toaccommodate varying denominations of coins and the delivery knife ispivotably mounted to accommodate varying diameters of varying coindenominations. The rotary disc is provided with a plurality of pinsextruded from the front surface thereof in positions spaced in theperipheral direction. The central disc and the extruded pins define coinreceiving spaces. These coin receiving spaces pick up coins from agutter formed in the lower portion of the hopper and deliver them to theupper delivery portion one at a time and in specific quantities when therotary disc is rotated within the hopper. The coins delivered into theupper delivery portion are guided by the delivery knife to a coindischarge chute. The coins passing the upper delivery portion areusually counted by means of a coin counter which has an actuator or anactuation roller of a microswitch resiliently projected into a positionto be engaged with the coins effectively. Alternatively the coin countercomprises a photoelectric switch adapted for detecting the coin pushedout by a leaf spring extending from one side of the delivery passage.

However, such a conventional coin counter has a disadvantage that theextended position of the actuator or the actuating roller of themicroswitch or the leaf spring is substantially fixed or limited even ifit is adjustable so that when the diameter of the coin to be dispensedis substantially changed, it is necessary to replace the central discwith another having a different diameter and also to adjust the positionof the delivery knife to accommodate varying diameters of the coins.Accordingly, it is necessary to prepare a lot of central discs havingvarying diameters as well as to adjust with a high degree skill.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing it is a principal object of the presentinvention to provide a coin dispensing apparatus for various coindenominations which by replacement of a relatively inexpensive counterroller can be converted for a wide variety of coin diameters without anyadjustment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a coin dispensingapparatus without an eccentricity or runout of the rotary disc.

A feature of the present invention is a coin dispensing apparatuscomprising a removable and replaceable counter roller rotatably mountedon a rocker arm integrally formed with an actuating arm of a proximityswitch and normally positioned in the delivery passage opposite thedelivery knife and biased towards the latter, said rocker arm andactuating arm being so formed that as a coin having a predetermineddiameter passes the delivery passage along the delivery knife, therocker arm is pivoted by the coin and causes the actuating arm to moveinto the detecting space of the proximity switch.

The proximity switch comprises a pair of spaced-apart sensor coilswhich, between them, define a slot which opens in a pair of oppositedirections and into and out of which the actuating arm movesunrestrictedly in said directions; and therefore when a coin of largerdiameter passes between the delivery knife and the counter roller, itmerely causes the actuating arm to swing farther through said slot thanwould be the case with a coin of said predetermined diameter, so thatthe larger diameter coin will not jam the apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description of an illustrative embodimentproceeds with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the coin dispensing apparatus accordingto the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the coin dispensing apparatus shown inFIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a front elevation on a larger scale of the coin dispensingapparatus with the hopper removed to show the rotary disc and thecounting means,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating the relationshipbetween the drive gear box, drive pin, rotary disc and rotary discsupporting means, and

FIG. 5 is an illustrative perspective view of a portion of the proximityswitch.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to drawings, it will be seen that a mounting frame 1 iscomposed of a base plate 2 and side plates 3, 3 having flanges 4, 4 ontheir respective inclined front edges. One the mounting frame 1, arotary disc supporting plate 5 is fixedly mounted by means of bolts 6, 6secured to the flanges 4, 4, so that the supporting plate 5 is at anangle to the horizontal and a motor 7 is mounted on the supporting plate5 for driving a drive shaft 9 through a reduction gear box 8. The motor7 is provided with a conventional braking mechanism 10 for stopping at adesired angular position.

In order to rotatably support a rotary disc 13 on the inclinedsupporting plate 5, a plurality of balls 11 are interposed between theupper or front surface of the supporting plate 5 and the bottom surfaceof the rotary disc 13. The balls 11 are rotatably confined in retainers12, respectively, which are spaced in the peripheral direction and fixedto the front surface of the supporting plate 5. The rotary disc 13 has aconcentric circular race 14 formed on the bottom surface thereof forengaging the balls 11 in the retainers 12.

The rotary disc 13 has also an eccentric driven pin 15 extruded from thebottom surface thereof for engagement by a radially projecting drive pin16 secured to the drive shaft 9. When the motor is operative and rotatesthe drive shaft 9 the rotary disc 13 is connected operatively to thedrive shaft 9 by the drive pin 16 in its engagement with the driven pin15. The rotary disc 13 has a plurality of delivery pins 17 extruded fromthe front surface thereof in positions spaced in the peripheraldirection. The delivery pins 17 may be formed by means of a stampingoperation performed on the rotary disc.

Concentrically overlying the top surface of the rotary disc 13 is alsoprovided with a central disc 18. The central disc has a central opening19 for receiving the drive shaft 9 which also extends through the centerof the rotary disc 13. A plurality of agitators 20 that protrude fromthe front surface of the central disc 18 may also be formed by astamping operation.

In order to prevent eccentricity and runout of the rotary disc 13 as theresult of unbalance from the weight of coins engaging it, it is biaseddownwardly, as by means of a belleville spring 21, to engage itscircular race 14 with the balls 11 on the supporting plate 5 under adesired pressure. The belleville spring 21 is secured to the upwardlyprojecting end of the drive shaft 9 through a washer 22, by means of ascrew 23, and it also urges the central disc 18 against the rotary disc13.

The hopper 25 is made of plastics and is resiliently mounted on thesupporting plate 5 by means of pins 26, each of which extends through ahole (not shown) in the supporting plate 5. A spring 28 interposedbetween the bottom side of the supporting plate 5 and a collar 27secured to the extended end portion of the pin 26 permits the hopper 25to lift itself away from the supporting plate resiliently, against theforce of the spring. Such lifting movement of the hopper 25 relative tothe supporting plate 5 prevents coins contained within the hopper 25from jamming in the gutter portion of the hopper. The hopper 25 is alsomovably supported by means of supporting roller 29 which is mountedrotatably on a stationary supporting arm 30 and engaged with the guideportion 25' of the hopper 25.

In order to increase the amount of coins to be stored in the coindispensing apparatus, an additional hopper 31 is removably mounted onbrackets 32 that project from the upper portion of the mounting frame 1above the hopper 25. Also, in order to detect the amount of coinscontained in the hopper, a detector arm 33 is pivoted to the bracket 32and has a detecting element 34 secured to its free end that makescontact with the coins within the hopper. The detecting arm 33 isfurther arranged to actuate a detecting microswitch 35 when the amountof the coins attains an upper or lower limit level.

The coin dispensing apparatus includes a delivery knife 40 adapted forguiding coins to a coin discharge chute at the upper delivery portion 41and further a removable and replaceable counter roller 42 adapted forthe diameter of the coins to be dispensed so as to define a deliverypassage 43 in cooperation with the knife 40.

The counter roller 42 is rotatably and removably mounted on a pin 45 atthe free end of a rocker arm 44 by means of a split ring. The rocker armis pivoted to the supporting plate 5 by means of a pin 46 and isnormally urged to the position shown in FIG. 3 by means of a spring 47.The one end 47a of the spring 47 is engaged with the rocker arm 44 andthe other end 47b is engaged with the supporting plate 5 so as to pivotthe rocker arm 44 in a counterclockwise direction until a stopper 48adjustably secured to the rocker arm 44 engages the upper edge of thesupporting plate 5. The stopper 48 determines a position of the counterroller 42 at the one side of the delivery passage 43 that enables it tobe actuated by a coin having a predetermined diameter. As such a coin isdelivered to the delivery passage 43 along the knife 40, by pushingaction of a pin 17 on the rotating disc 13, the coin effectivelycontacts the counter roller 42 to pivot the rocker arm 44 in a clockwisedirection against the force of the spring 47. The pivotal movement ofthe rocker arm 44 causes a switch actuating arm 50 formed integrallywith the rocker arm 44 to move into a gap or slot 52 between a pair ofsensor coils 51, 51 of an electromagnetic sensor such as a slot switchor a proximity switch 53 to make switching action for counting each cointhat passes the counter roller.

It will be seen from the above that in the coin dispensing apparatusaccording to the present invention a plurality of balls interposedbetween the bottom surface of the rotary disc and the upper surface ofthe supporting plate rotatably supports the rotary disc on thesupporting plate, and means for urging the rotary disc toward thesupporting plate prevents the rotary disc from disengaging the balls,thus overcoming the problem of lift and runout of the rotary disc with asimple and low cost construction. Furthermore, the removable andreplaceable counter roller, rotatably mounted on the rocker arm, can bereadily replaced by a different counter roller, to accommodate coins ofa different diameter, without necessity for replacement of the centerdisc or adjustment of the position of the delivery knife. Finally,delicate adjustment of the counter switch is unnecessary because theactuating arm of the electromagnetic sensor which is formed integrallywith the rocker arm that carries the counter roller, can move freelyinto the detecting gap or slot between a pair of sensor coils of theelectromagnetic sensor so that a coin having larger diameter than thepredetermined diameter may pass through the delivery passage without anyjams.

What is claimed is:
 1. A coin dispensing apparatus comprising a hopperfor holding a supply of coins, a rotary disc in said hopper that isinclined to the horizontal and has coin engaging means on an upper facethereof, said rotary disc being rotatable in one direction to carrycoins upward from near the bottom of the hopper, a delivery knife nearthe top of the disc to which coins are delivered by the rotary disc forguidance to a delivery chute and which has a substantially upwardlyfacing surface that the coins engage edgewise, a counter roller having aperiphery edgewise engageable by coins, mounting means whereby thecounter roller is carried for free rotation about its axis and forbodily motion transversely to its downwardly towards and upwardly awayfrom a defined position in which the counter roller is spaced from saidsurface by a distance less than the diameter of a coin of predetermineddenomination, said counter roller being biased downwardly to be movedupward from said position by passage along said surface of a coin ofsaid denomination, and electrical switch means responsive to movement ofsaid counter roller out of said position for counting each coin thatpasses the counter roller, said coin dispensing apparatus beingcharacterized by:(A) said switch means comprising a pair of elementsbetween which there is a slot that opens in a pair of oppositedirections and which cooperate to produce an output upon entry into saidslot of an actuating member; and (B) an actuating member connected withsaid mounting means to be moved in one of said opposite directions byupward movement of the counter roller and in the other of said oppositedirections by downward movement of the counter roller, said actuatingmember being arranged to enter said slot upon movement of the counterroller out of said position and to move freely in said slot in said onedirection so that the counter roller can be passed by coinssubstantially larger in diameter than said coin of predetermineddenomination.
 2. The coin dispensing apparatus of claim 1, furthercharacterized by:(C) said counter roller having a readily detachableconnection with said mounting means so that said counter roller can bereplaced by any one of a plurality of counter rollers of differentdiameters, each intended for cooperation with coins of a differentpredetermined denomination.
 3. The coin dispensing apparatus of claim 2wherein said rotary disc and said mounting means are supported by astationary base, further characterized by:(D) cooperating abutment meanson said stationary base and on said mounting means whereby said positionof the counter means is defined, one of said abutment means beingadjustable up and down. .Iadd.4. A coin dispensing apparatus comprisinga hopper for holding a supply of coins, a rotary disc in said hopperthat is inclined to the horizontal and has coin engaging means on anupper face thereof, said rotary disc being rotated by means of a driveshaft at a center thereof in one direction to carry coins upward fromnear the bottom of the hopper, a delivery knife near the top of the discto which coins are delivered by the rotary disc for guidance to adelivery chute and which has a substantially upwardly facing surfacethat the coins engage edgewise, a counter roller supported retractablyat a position opposite to the surface of the knife so as to engage witha peripheral edge of the coin, said coin dispensing apparatus beingcharacterized by: means for rotatably supporting the rotary disc on aninclined supporting plate, the supporting means including a circularrace, grooved in the bottom surface of the rotary disc at a peripheralportion of the rotary disc, a plurality of balls arranged in thecircular race, a retainer for rotatably retaining the balls in thecircular race at positions spaced from each other circumferentially andbiasing means on the drive shaft extending through a central opening inthe rotary disc toward the supporting plate, thereby maintaining theposition of the peripheral portion of the rotary disc at a constantposition. .Iaddend. .Iadd.5. The coin dispensing apparatus of claim 4,wherein said counter roller includes a readily detachable connectionconnecting with a mounting means so that said counter roller can bereplaced by any one of a plurality of counter rollers of differentdiameters, each intended for cooperation with coins of a differentpredetermined denomination. .Iaddend. .Iadd.6. The coin dispensingapparatus of claim 5, wherein said rotary disc and said mounting meansare supported by a stationary base having abutment means, cooperatingwith abutment means on said mounting means, whereby said position of thecounter means is defined, one of said abutment means being adjustable upand down. .Iaddend.